About our Parish

​Barlow village is placed on the edge of the Peak District in North East Derbyshire. We are in easy reach of Chatsworth (One of seven great houses of England) and only 4 miles from the market town of Chesterfield. Barlow is famous for its Well Dressings, (which are done using whole flower heads) and Carnival parade.

In Saxon days the village was called Barleie and it receives a mention in the Domesday Book. In addition to the original name of Barleie there are two further references to the village of Barley to Barlow in the 17th century when documents have either one or the other spelling.

It was described as 'A large village and parish situated on a bold eminence commanding a very extensive view of finely cultivated country' (Kelly 1936)

After 1086 it was owned by Richard d'Abitot who also owned nearby baronies of Staveley, Killamarsh and Holme. It was around this time that the Norman church of St Lawrence was built along with Barlow Hall "In the Sud Valley east of the Church".

During the 13th Century the d'Abitot became the De Barleys. The village subsequently being known as Great Barlow and Little Barlow.

The family of Barley were village owners for several generations. Inside the Norman Church a D'abitot chantry chapel was built in 1340 and there is also a tomb data dated 1532 for Robert Barley who was the Bess of Hardwick's first husband.

In 1593 James Barlow sold Barlow to the Earls of Shrewsbury. By the early 1600's the Barlow family had declined, and the family left the village and their family home at Barlow Hall, this was demolished when the family could no longer afford it. One wall was believed to be standing until the early 19th Century but the only indicator that it was there is the existing reference in the name of the later Hall Farm. Part of the former walled garden to the hall still exists within its grounds. Much of the stone was reused within the village buildings.

The ownership of the village passed onto the Duke of Newcastle in 1691 and then to the Duke of Portland in 1741 who exchanged it with the Duke of Rutland at Whitwell in 1813, he was the major landowner here until the twentieth century.

At the junction of Hackney Lane and Wilkin Hill the Coronation tree marks the centre of the original village opposite the village pump (1840). This is one of the three wells dressed during Barlow feast, which is one of the oldest well dressings in Derbyshire and has been in existence since at least 1572 when Church records began.

Barlow was the birthplace of William Owtram D.D. (1626-1679), a clergyman who published notable theological works and rose to lead the church of the House of Commons - St Margaret's, Westminster